I had never heard of this link between statins and aggression and Tylenol and lack of empathy before. Interesting. Maybe this is why Boomers act so strange now. “Former flower children lost their empathy and caring for the world and the next generation when their doctors put them all on statins and they started gobbling Tylenol” would be quite an interesting story. Both my parents are on statins, it seems every person past a certain age is, the doctors think statins are something everyone should be on. I have my doubts.
>“Should people at low risk of cardiovascular disease take a statin?”
Have them ask their doctor about the NNT of statins (number needed to treat). Statins reduce cholesterol, and boy do they do a good job. But what are the outcomes? Despite the hypothesis, Lowered cholesterol does not really reduce your chances for a heart attack (NNT 217) or stroke (NNT > 300). Which means 217 have to take the drug for 3 years for 1 person to avoid a non fatal heart attack!
Most of those statin studies were done on men. There is growing evidence for women but for decades it was almost non existent.
One of the problems with the Pharmaceutical industry is how long term effects/safety data are never available until decades later, after the industry has heavily pushed the drug On doctors and patients and made a ton of money. I’m not saying it is necessarily nefarious, just that the incentives are misaligned for positive patient outcomes. All patients should be aware of that.
I take statins and my best self-analysis is that it gives me nightmares. I can't count the number of times I have woken up with bad dreams. However, I think it is my brain trying to regulate heart by causing it to beat harder. When I exercise, I usually do not have these nightmares, or maybe I am too tired to notice them.
I got prescribed Rosuvastatin and got extremely vivid nightmares to the point of waking up unrested. I thought I was the only one because I could find much online. The dreams and nightmares are so intense I have stopped the statin.
Thank you for recommending me exercixe. That might be the answer.
> Both my parents are on statins, it seems every person past a certain age is, the doctors think statins are something everyone should be on.
In my experience, modern doctors are well aware of the risks of statin treatment. I'm sure you can find trigger-happy doctors who over prescribe statins, but that's definitely not the recommended best practices.
>“Should people at low risk of cardiovascular disease take a statin?”
https://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6123